


Imagined Life

by Anjelle



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Author Sabo, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-26
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-02-18 20:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2361443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anjelle/pseuds/Anjelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sabo is a famous novelist working on the latest instalment in his series of books called One Piece. However, when he kills off one of his characters - Portgas D. Ace - he is surprised to find said character came to life in his living room. And the headache ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. From My Mind

The room was dimly lit, illuminated only by a lamp. Everything was bathed in a golden light. At the wooden desk was an old, worn-out book. It was opened. In it words were being written neatly in black ink by a large, unmarked hand. It hurriedly ran across the page, speeding up as what it wrote grew in intensity. And then it stopped, allowing the ink to pool where pen met paper.

The writer sighed and leaned back in his chair, tangling his hand in his pale blonde locks. He was starting to feel a smidge of regret. Sure it was only a character in his novel, but he had a nasty habit of growing attached to the fictional beings. It took a lot of time and effort to design them, come up with their mannerisms and build their personalities. After all of that they seemed to come to life on the page. And, in essence, they were each a part of him. That's what made the latest section of the story so difficult to write.

He found himself absently reaching for a second book. He opened it and flipped through the pages, momentarily looking at each of his drawings. The sketchbook contained designs for each and every character mentioned in the book. He had a habit of going to ridiculous lengths forming the individuals in his stories, going so far as to describe the way they laughed and moved—how they carried themselves. He gave them hopes and aspirations as well as fears and could understand the inner workings of their minds much like he did his own, even if they were villains. Truly he couldn't hate any of them because of how much he knew. Maybe that was part of being a novelist.

His absent flipping stopped when he reached the sketch of the character that was troubling him—Portgas D. Ace. When he designed that character he went into more detail than he usually did, which meant a lot seeing as he always went overboard to begin with. He didn't mean to—the character was made for a specific purpose and was not to become one of the main characters of the story—but couldn't stop. The information just spilled out onto the page as though it was natural. And again he grew attached.

Now he was facing off in an internal battle with himself. That character was made to die. The whole point of his existence was to be used as a catalyst that would send the main character on the path to becoming stronger. He based everything around that fact and now he was having regrets. Though he hadn't yet implemented it into the story, he had written out all of the aspects of his childhood and upbringing. He'd given him a hard life and a dark disposition—a result of what was said about his father. And finally, when he was truly happy for the first time, his life would end. He would sacrifice himself for his brother.

The blonde was left feeling guilty. Never before had he done something so cruel to one of his characters and his mind was wrought with sorrow. Even if the character was just a result of words on paper—a slice of his imagination—it felt wrong.

_Come on, Sabo, you're overreacting._

He closed the sketchbook and sighed a second time before readying his pen. Again his neat handwriting continued and he began the arduous task of writing out the most tragic scene in the story thus far. He had Ace stop when he heard one of the Admirals insult his captain. He visibly cringed at the mental image, knowing what would lie ahead. He found himself ridiculous; he was mentally yelling at Ace to take Luffy and run despite being the one who was writing the scene out—a testament to just how much he liked the character. And then the fighting began. Luffy dropped the vivre card. Ace took a blow for him and fell into his arms.

"Sorry about this," Sabo murmured as his pen paused once more. He took a deep breath and wrote out one of the hardest things he ever had.

_"Thank you for loving me."_

As he finished the last sentence of that chapter he felt a warm liquid stream down one of his cheeks. Damn he was emotional. He felt like he just murdered one of his best friends. It wasn't right. After that he couldn't bring himself to continue. Gently the blonde closed the worn cover and placed it in the top drawer of his desk.

Sabo picked himself up and walked across the room before he collapsed on the bed, eyes tired and heavy. He felt a massive headache coming along and didn't want to move from that spot. The pounding started to get so bad that he couldn't move without writhing in pain.

In the midst of his turmoil he heard a bang come from the other room. He ignored the seething agony within his skull to push himself off the bed and grab a knife that was always kept on his nightstand before cautiously filing out into hallway. When he reached the other end he peeked around the corner to the living room. It didn't look like there was anything out of the ordinary—that is, until he looked down.

After a few minutes of blank stares he rubbed his head and turned around to head back into the bedroom.  _Clearly I'm hallucinating. Must be the headache._ However, he was stopped when he heard groans coming from behind him. He froze in place. Never before did he have an audio-visual hallucination. He really must have been tired—or mentally ill.

"Ah, damn it!" a voice chocked out.

Slowly Sabo spun around with wide eyes. On his floor lay a shirtless, black-haired man covered in wounds. He was battered and bruised with his faced scrunched up in a look of pain. The man rubbed his head gently as the writer tried to process what he was seeing. He looked every bit like how he imagined Portgas D. Ace.

The man opened his eyes and sent a cold look his way. Sabo flinched; though he had written about that horrible glare he never thought he would bear witness to it. Then the freckled man gazed around the room, confusion ever-present on his face.

"Where the hell is this?" he asked, not expecting much of a reply.

Sabo swallowed heavily and prepared to speak. "My place." Again those icy eyes met his, sending shivers up his spine. "Who are you?"

The man shuffled until he was sitting cross-legged on the floor, arms resting on his thighs. He gave the area another glace before he scrutinized the boy in front of him, judging his appearance.

"Portgas D. Ace." Sabo felt his body grow numb. "Now tell me who you are."

The blonde raised a shaky hand to his forehead, eyes wide and disbelieving. He stumbled until his back was flush with the wall and he used it to keep himself steady as he tried to process what he was seeing. The knife slipped from his palm and clanked into the wood floor. Somehow a character from his latest novel had appeared in his living room just as he imagined him. No amount of rational thinking was going to fix that. He never had as lucid a hallucination as that before.

"Oi, you okay?" the man asked. When he received no answer he picked himself off the floor and headed over to the blonde, placing a worried hand on his shoulder.

Sabo jumped at the touch and it was clear by his confused expression that Ace noticed. That couldn't be real. He could  _feel_  the hallucination? Was that even possible? "This can't be happening," he mumbled in a daze. Was he going insane?

He felt the hand shake him a bit, bringing his attention back to reality—if it could be called that.

"Oi, you don't look so good. Maybe you should sit down."

Sabo looked at the man, shocked to see how real he appeared up close. "Y-yeah." He made his way over to the couch with Ace's help and sat on its plush surface, leaning into its back as he entered a more comfortable position. "Thanks." He just thanked a hallucination—by then he was too far gone.

"What's wrong?" Ace asked, showing just a bit of concern for the stranger.

"I-it's just… This is…" Sabo inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm himself. It worked, for the most part. "This shouldn't be possible."

Ace raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Sabo exhaled and began rubbing his temple to sooth his raging headache. "You're not real."

This time the freckled man's face contorted into a disbelieving look. "I'm plenty real. I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yes, that's what I don't get. You shouldn't  _be_  here. You shouldn't even _exist_."

Ace's eyebrow twitched at that last part. "Got a problem with me?"

Sabo sighed—that was _exactly_  how he would expect his character to react to those words. He hated how accurate he was; he even got the tone right. "That's not what I'm saying. It's just… Portgas D. Ace is a character,  _not_  a real person."

"…What are you talking about?"

Feeling calm enough to stand, the blonde wrapped his hand around Ace's wrist and dragged him out of the room, down the hall and into his bedroom. He stopped at his desk and grabbed the sketchbook off its surface, flipping until he reached the character design of Gold Roger's son. He scanned the page and shivered at the similarities it held to the man behind him, and then handed it off to the latter.

Ace looked at the drawing. It showed him in his casual outfit wearing his orange hat and beaded necklace. There was a close-up of his dagger with lines trailing across it to areas of writing that elaborated on it. That went for the other items as well. On the other side of the page was very fine print. After reading some of it he noticed that it detailed his mannerisms, habits, physical features and even his narcolepsy. His brows knitted together in contemplation. "…What is this?"

"It's you, essentially." At that Ace turned and gave him a confused look before his focus returned to the book, scrutinizing it further. "Portgas D. Ace is a character in my novel."

Ace's eyes widened at that and he ran his hand across his image. That was him? He was just something drawn on a piece of paper? "…But I have memories. You're being ridiculous."

Sabo let out a shuddering breath as he opened the top drawer of desk and grabbed hold of the worn notebook with yellowed pages. He held it firmly in front of his face, flaunting it in an effort to make sure the man understood. If he really  _was_  the Ace he wrote about then he was stubborn as hell and the only way he would believe it was if he was showed undeniable proof. "If you really are Ace then all of your memories come from this."

Ace took the bound pages in his hand, skimming them to get the basics of what was written. The beginning detailed his capture and detainment in Impel Down but mainly focused on Luffy's attempt at rescuing him. Further in the setting changed to Marineford and explained the battle from the various perspectives of the people involved in the war, including his own. What scared him the most was that every thought of his mentioned was something he really did remember thinking at the time. Every feeling was correct. Every event was just as he remembered.

As he reached the last filled pages Sabo grabbed it from his hands, assuming he got the point. He felt a bit worried when he saw how pale the man got. The look on his face was completely blank, like he didn't even know how he was supposed to feel. Maybe explaining that to him wasn't the best idea.

"So you're saying I'm not real?"

Noting the shock in the man's posture, Sabo led him over to the bed and had him sit down. He hesitantly placed his hand on each of Ace's shoulders. After having such an extensive conversation he was starting to doubt that the man was a hallucination, especially with how solid he felt. Or maybe he was schizophrenic. Either way, Ace appeared too real to just ignore. "You weren't. But you're here now so you must be."

_Or I've finally reached the end of my mental stability._

Ace looked at the blonde hopefully. He was just told that his entire life was false—someone's imaginings—and he wanted something to confide in that said he was more than that. He didn't want his existence to be a lie.

"I don't really get what's going on but what matters is that you exist  _now_."

"Yeah, that's great and all, but nothing I know is real." At some point Ace resigned himself to what the blonde said, though internally he was fighting with himself, ridiculing his claims. He could at least play along, though.

"Forget about that—I'll figure something out. Just trust me okay? I created you, after all."

Ace snickered at that. "You did a horrible job."

"I can't believe one of my own characters just insulted me."

"Deal with it."

Sabo sighed. "Look: since you obviously don't have a place to go I'll let you stay here. Just…try not to damage anything; I know how you can be."

Ace rolled his eyes but was starting to calm down. "Fine. And…thanks."

The blonde smiled as he went to put his notebook away. "What kind of person would I be if I kicked my own creation out?"

There was a pause before Ace spoke up. "What's your name?"

The writer turned to face him once more. After that first wave of shock had passed he was starting to feel pretty excited about the turn of events. After all, that man was the character he'd grown fond of during his latest work. He felt bad for that last scene written in his notebook and felt helping the real, live version of him would wash away the guilt. "Sabo."


	2. The Strange New World

Sabo dabbed the disinfectant onto once of Ace's  _very_  infected wounds, causing him to wince and shy away. He sighed. "I don't remember making you so delicate," he teased, eliciting a bit of a snarl from the pirate.

"Shut up. I'd like to see how you feel after getting tortured by Marines."

"Right… Sorry about that."

"Hm?"

"It's my fault you're hurt. I wrote it, after all." He disinfected another wound as his brow furrowed into a look of guilt.

"After knowing you're the cause of everything bad that's happened to me, I can't say I like you."

The blonde paused in what he was doing, saddened by those words yet fully understanding of them, before grabbing a roll of bandages and some medical tape from his kit. "I wouldn't have written that if I thought you could become real."

"Why  _did_  you have me captured?" Ace lifted his arms to allow the blonde to wrap the bandages around his torso without interference. He eyed him wearily.

"Simple cause and effect, my friend." When Sabo saw that the pirate didn't understand he decided to elaborate. "It needed to happen so that I could get the result I wanted."

"Which was..?"

"Your execution."

Ace froze at that. He remembered Marineford all too well. The last thing he could recall before falling into Sabo's living room was being freed by Luffy. The feeling of freedom that washed over him as the seastone cuffs were removed was still vivid in his mind. And then suddenly he was there, in the 'real' world, being told that he shouldn't exist. "…What happened to me after I was freed?"

Sabo paled and stopped treating his wounds to look the freckled man in the eyes. "…You don't remember?"

He shook his head.

The blonde lowered his eyes to his lap. He was really starting to hate himself for all of the bullshit he put his characters through. But it wasn't his fault, right? How was he supposed to know one of them would spring to life out of nowhere? They were supposed to be nothing more than thoughts on a page—a sequence of events strung together by his mind. Pieces of his imagination. And now he was faced with one of them right before his eyes in a tangible form. "…You died."

" _What_?" Sabo flinched at that. Having created him, he knew exactly what his reaction would be. It was one thing to imagine it and another to experience it, though. "You  _killed_  me? Luffy just set me free!"

"I know."

"Why? Why the  _hell_  would I die?"

The blonde swallowed heavily as he prepared to explain. He just knew it wasn't going to end well—probably with a few sweltering wounds and broken bones. Hell, he might exact eye-for-an-eye justice and resort to murder. But he wasn't going to walk away from the conversation because, despite being praised as a literary genius, he was a moron. "I used you as a catalyst to motivate Luffy." He saw Ace pale at that. "I needed to give him a reason to get stronger—something to make him realize how weak he was."

"And so you  _killed_  me?" Ace's voice was dark and threatening—dangerous. He clenched his fists so tight that he almost made them bleed. His whole body tensed as he took in that knowledge. He was finally happy—truly—for the first time in his life. He was thankful to be alive and he felt  _loved_. And then he died and learned that everything he knew was a lie.

"I didn't want to." Sabo looked up at him with apologetic eyes before he turned away once more and tore the bandages, taping them to his build. "Even before all of this I felt bad about it."

"…Then why did you? I'm sure you could have thought of some other way to motivate my brother."

Sabo ignored him and stood, heading into the kitchen. "You hungry?"

"Oi, answer the question!"

"What am I saying? You're _always_  hungry." He got out a big pot and put it in the sink before turning on the tap. While it filled with water he went and grabbed a myriad of spices, placing them on the counter beside the stove. "I don't really feel like cooking, though, so I'll just make something simple. Hope it's enough."

Ace stormed into the kitchen, grabbed onto Sabo's shoulder and spun him around. "Damn it! Would you stop ignoring me?"

Sabo sighed. "I never realized just how bad your temper was."

Ace lit his fist into flames, holding it up to the blonde closely as if to remind him of what he could do. Sabo just gave him a dull, unimpressed glare. He relaxed his shoulders and leaned back against the counter. The attitude was enough to make an already irate fire user fume.

"Try it—I  _dare_  you."

"Cocky bastard," Ace shot, his shoulders beginning to spark with anger.

"I know you better than you know yourself; you won't do it."

"What makes you so sure?"

Sabo's mouth curved into a smirk. "I know because despite your attitude you're a decent guy."

Ace's eye twitched. "Hardly."

"Seems you don't know yourself very well." Before Ace had a chance to reply, the blonde had grabbed onto his forearm and pulled the flaming appendage nearer, studying it. The pirate stared at him strangely as he went to touch the fire.

"O-oi!"

He went to pull away but by then Sabo's hand was already submerged in blaze. Ace blinked, surprised at that, but the other smiled when he realized he wasn't getting charred.

"What? Never realized how much control you had over your ability? I suppose it makes sense—I never put you into a situation where you  _wouldn't_ want to burn someone you were up against." When the writer looked up he saw a spark of interest enter his creation's mind—a sure sign that he would forget about his earlier question.

"It… doesn't hurt?"

"Your flames are only hot when you want them to be. Didn't know?" Ace shook his head as Sabo continued poking and prodding the inferno. "I'm surprised you still have your power in reality, though."

"You don't have Devil Fruit here?"

"Nope, I created them for my sto—" He noticed the sink was about to overflow and rushed over to the tap. "Shit!" He shut off the water and pulled the pot onto the counter, wiping the sides. After he was satisfied with how dry it was he hauled it over to the stove and turned it on, placing a lid over the pot to allow it to boil.

Ace simply watched, wondering why the blonde was making such a big deal about a little spilt water.

Sabo stepped back, placing his index and thumb to his chin in a look of contemplation. He knew that wouldn't be enough to feed the bottomless pit that stood across the room; suddenly he was regretting giving the D. brothers such insatiable appetites. Why did he do it in the first place? Well, whatever. He would just have to think of something else to feed him.

"Go find something to do while I make dinner. I'll call you when it's done."

"Like what?" he asked, looking over at the strange cooking device. It resembled a stove and yet was still foreign in appearance.

"You're a smart boy—figure something out."

Sabo heard some curses and grumbling emanate from the man before he left, leaving the blonde to rummage through his food storage and see what he could find. Opening the fridge he grimaced; it was almost empty save for some raw fruits and vegetables. He shrugged, making a mental note to go shopping in the morning, and removed everything, placing it all on the counter. Looking at the mound he sighed, realizing that was the most he ever had to cook, and rolled up his sleeves in preparation.

* * *

After stumbling into the living room Ace stared at the many strange, alien devices sprawled about. Most things looked similar to what he used back home, yet… different. He wasn't sure he'd be able to use them, but felt like messing around—he was supposed to entertain himself, right?

There was a small, rectangular box on the coffee table. Lazily he picked it up and spun it around to study it. He absently pressed down on one side and something resembling a circular eye shot out the front. On the back a screen lit up and showed what the 'eye' was seeing. Fiddling with it more he started pressing buttons and a red light appeared. He moved it around and let it get a good view of the room.  _It's like a surveillance snail or something…_

After getting bored with that he turned it off and explored the room further. There was a shelf completely filled with books. He pulled one out to get better look. The title read  _One Piece_  and the author was simply written as 'Sabo' with no last name. _He wrote this?_  He skimmed through it and his eyes widened when he realized that it was all a part of his world. Luffy seemed to be the focus—it started out with him floating in a barrel and getting hauled onto a boat. He stopped reading there, though, in favour of looking over at the rest of the books. The ones in the first row were all sequels to the one in his hands, each with its own subheading. He put the first back and picked up another, flipping through it once again. At the back were character sketches for some of the people that would be introduced in the next book. He repeated the process a few times until he spotted one that had his design in it. There was a brief, vague biography beneath it, stating that he was Luffy's older brother and one of the commanders of the Whitebeard pirates but there was nothing about his background like with other characters at the back. One part caught his eye:

_I'll say this now because I'm certain that many of you will be questioning it: no, I did not mess up on the tattoo on his arm. I know, I know, you want to know about it, right? Well, you're just going to have to wait. And don't hold your breath because I won't explain in the next book. Let's just say I have plans for later and leave it at that, shall we? Feel free to speculate—I'm sure you will without my permission, anyways._

Ace knitted his brows together in curious contemplation. Thinking back on it, he wasn't sure why there was a crossed-out 'S' in his tattoo. In fact, he didn't even remember getting it. Why was that? Even if he came from some stupid book he should still know something like that, right? He'd have to ask the stupid blonde later.

Shrugging it off, he put each part of the series back in its proper place and moved onto the second row. Rather than finding neat, printed books like above, he was met with worn spiral-bound notebooks. They looked so old that they could tear at any moment. He cautiously removed one from the shelf and opened it up, met with beautiful handwritten notes. On the first page it said "Vol. 1" and listed some names. One stood out above the rest—Monkey D. Luffy. Turning the page he saw that the notebook contained almost the exact same thing as the first published novel.  _A rough draft?_

The second notebook contained a series of character designs lazily drawn against the lined paper. He saw a few that looked similar to Luffy and an entire set dedicated to the Straw Hat crewmembers he met in Alabasta.

While looking he stopped and studied something unlike the others. Instead of design attempts there was a drawing of tree young boys. One looked like Luffy and the other was possibly Ace, but the third was unfamiliar. He was wearing a black top hat with goggles on it and a white dress shirt with a blue tailcoat overtop. His hair was light and Ace noticed there was a bit of semblance between the boy and the man he was currently staying with—Sabo. Each was holding a large pipe and they were smiling and laughing together.  _What is this about, exactly?_

Deciding he didn't want to dwell on it, he moved to the final row. There he found more published works by Sabo that weren't a part of the  _One Piece_  series. They were all various in style and genre, dated randomly, all printed within the past seven years. He was curious…

A loud ringing came from the device next to the shelf and caused him to jump, dropping the book he was about to snoop through. He hastily returned it to its proper place and spun around to glare at the screaming contraption. It looked and sounded similar to a den den mushi. Was that the equivalent of one in his new world? Cautiously he picked it up and held it to his ear.

"Oi, Sabo?"

"No, it's—"

"Bout time! You let the phone ring for a while; I thought you were out."

"Ph-phone?"

"Anyways, I can't come tomorrow—something came up. Sorry!" He heard a sigh come through the phone. "But this weekend, I promise! Oh, and Mark said to have the manuscript in by Thursday or else he'll pay you a visit. Shishishi!"

Ace's eyes doubled in size. "Lu—"

"Bye!"

_Click._

He was left standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face, listening to the dial tone. "…Luffy?"


	3. Forgotten

Sabo strolled into the living room, wiping his hands with a cloth. He looked curiously from Ace's expression to the phone he held and back, immediately understanding what happened. He paced over to the man and grabbed the device from his hand, placing it back on the receiver. The other still didn't move.

"I take it you answered. Who was it?"

"…Luffy…"

"Hm?"

Ace snapped back to his senses and stared deeply into blue eyes, more serious than he had been all night. "I thought you said that my world was just a place in a story you wrote."

"It is, more or less."

"Then why is Luffy here?"

Sabo blinked and then sighed, relaxing his stance. He scratched his head while he thought of how best to explain it. "It's not what you think."

"Then what is it?"

"…Monkey D. Luffy wasn't just a character I came up with off the top of my head like you were. He's based on someone I know."

"…The guy on the phone-thing?"

"Correct." He saw Ace's shoulders sag in disappointment and couldn't help but feel some pity. After all, the man was taken away from everything he knew and the people he loved. If he stayed in the real world he would never see Luffy again. If he didn't, well, he would return to being words on paper—a dead, expendable character. "His name is Luffy, too, though…" What could he say to lighten the mood? He knew everything about Ace and yet he couldn't think of what to do. "…What did he say?"

"Don't know—something about not coming tomorrow and some guy named Mark."

Sabo's eyes widened. "Crap—manuscript's due Thursday." He visibly paled, knowing that he would have to start working through meals to get it done by the deadline. If he asked for another extension he was sure to get in trouble with his editor… again.

* * *

"…What is _this_?" Ace asked, looking at the large spread on the dining room table.

"Dinner," Sabo replied simply, not once pausing in his typing. He hated writing while he ate but sometimes it was necessary—especially with how fast his publisher expected him to work.

"…Dinner?" The pirate looked over the meal in front of him and scrutinized it thoroughly, searching for something specific. When he didn't find it he scowled. "…Where's the meat?"

"There is none."

"Why not?"

The blonde sighed and tore his eyes away from the laptop screen but his fingers never stopped moving. "I'm a vegetarian and it's not exactly like I planned for a black hole, such as yourself, to grace me with its presence."

"Vegetarian? The hell is that?"

He lifted one of his hands away from his keyboard to rub his temple. "It means I don't eat meat."

"What? Why the hell not?" The concept itself baffled Ace. He couldn't imagine not being able to eat meat. In a way he pitied Sabo—what kind of world was it that could keep you from eating _real_ food? _I'm starting to think like Luffy…_

"I have my reasons."

"Like?"

"Just shut up and eat."

Ace glowered at the man sitting across from him before he turned his attention back to the food. It looked good, despite lacking his favourite flavours, and so he complied and began to devour it all—the stew, the salad, the side-dishes… everything. As he did so he pondered the slim invention in his host's lap. It was weird and unfamiliar. For some reason or another, the blonde kept tapping it. Was that thing important? It sure looked like it was, seeing how its user was so focused on it.

Every once in a while Sabo would look at a notebook on the table when he broke his concentration long enough to grab something to eat. It was the one from his bedroom desk—the one that detailed Impel Down and Marineford. Did that strange thing have something to do with the story?

"What are you doing?" he found himself asking.

"Typing up the rest of this chapter," the blonde replied, slowly chewing his food. It was eerie how he wasn't even blinking.

_…Typing? Whatever, I'm not going to bother asking…_

"Didn't you already write it out?"

"I need a digital copy."

_Digital..?_

"Then why write it in that notebook?"

"I feel more immersed in the plot if I do the rough draft by hand."

"…I see." He didn't really understand but it didn't look like Sabo was in the mood to answer his questions so he kept quiet and obediently finished his meal, still longing for some meat.

* * *

They'd been in the bedroom for quite some time—Sabo typing at his desk and Ace wandering in and out looking for something to keep himself occupied with. Eventually the pirate had settled on a chair and was fighting to keep alert; he hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours because he was dealing with his execution at Marineford up until his arrival in 'reality' and he was more than just a little exhausted. Coupled with his healing wounds draining his energy he was barely able to keep his eyes open.

Sabo noticed.

"Go to sleep—you can have my bed for the night." _Not like I'm going to get any rest knowing Mark's dangling that damn deadline in my face._

"…You sure?" he asked, voice uneven in a clear show of tiredness.

"Yeah. I don't have a spare bed so that'll have to suffice."

"…Thanks."

Ace stumbled over to the mattress and fell on top of it, instantly asleep. The writer rolled his eyes at that; he envied him because he had experienced bouts of insomnia throughout the better half of his life. Maybe that was why he gave him narcolepsy—a contrast to his reality.

Soon after, Sabo stretched and leaned back into his chair. The chapter was typed and now all he had to do was write out the last two. He already mapped out what was to happen in them and would likely be done by that time the next day, leaving him two days to retype them and submit the manuscript before his editor felt the need to visit personally.

This is where he would introduce Luffy's past—how he met Ace and their time together, more specifically. He would also be adding another character. The kid was a representation of him, going so far as to carry the same name. He would be their bonded brother and, in a fashion similar to Ace, he would become a catalyst through his death. Writing out that scene wouldn't be as hard as it would be for any other character, seeing as he was only doing himself in.

He looked over to the pirate sleeping on his bed and smiled; he was both surprised and a little glad that Ace didn't seem to connect him to the boy from his past. He would be confused enough trying to grasp that the real Luffy—who Sabo was sure he'd meet—wasn't his sibling. It would only be harder to explain if he realized the "Sabo" from his backstory was an awful lot like the "Sabo" who created him.

* * *

When Ace awoke he forgot where he was. The room was foreign and gave off warmth that his cell in Impel Down did not. He was glad to see that he was no longer shackled to the wall but couldn't help but wonder 'why'.

His confusion only grew when he faced his left and saw a tall, blonde man sleeping at a desk. Slowly he shifted off the mattress and stalked over to the stranger, wary of him after being trapped for so long in that damned Marine prison. Once he saw his face, though, the memories from the previous day flooded through his mind. That's right—he was a character in that man's book that came to life in his living room. Repeating that in his head, he felt that maybe he dreamt up the whole situation. The one thing that confirmed the story was the notebook lying under the blonde's arms.

Ace lifted the paper pad into his hand, shoving Sabo's arms off of it, and took a peek. He expected to find out what happened to his brother after the war but the page he was on was detailing their past. It mentioned that a boy in raggedy noble garb was with them.

_What? I don't…_

Before he could finish the thought his head throbbed. He dropped the book and grabbed his forehead in a feeble attempt to rid himself of the pain. Through his wincing and imploding brain he saw that Sabo had woken to his whimpering and was saying something, but he couldn't hear him. The white, jabbing blows to his brain just kept increasing—quickening—building up. Before he knew it he was doubled over on the ground, fading in and out of consciousness.

Sabo stared wide-eyed at the pirate at his feet, not knowing what was going on. He crouched down and placed a gentle hand on his back. When he asked what was wrong he got no response. That only increased his worry. It wasn't long before he managed to hoist him back onto the bed and check his temperature. He was running a fever, but why? He seemed perfectly fine before.

"I'm going to—" He stopped himself when he realized that Ace was already knocked out.

* * *

It wasn't until well into the afternoon that Ace awoke. Sabo treated his condition the best he could and settled to wait it out. He prepared a meal for him earlier and was currently typing away, trying to distract himself, attempting to ease his worries. He hated how attached he was to the pirate despite him coming to life only a day earlier. Of course, he already knew everything about him, so it didn't matter either way.

When Ace's eyes opened, Sabo flew from his chair and was instantly at his bedside. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he realized that the pirate no longer seemed to be in pain.

"How you feeling?" he asked, keeping his voice low just in case the man had a headache.

Ace stared blearily at the blue-eyed man as his eyes adjusted. When he saw blonde hair he squinted in a futile effort to make them focus faster. "…Sabo?"

The blonde was curious about his reaction, not just because he didn't answer the question but because he was having trouble registering his face. Was he still out of it because of earlier? "Yeah, it's me. You okay?"

"…I think," Ace replied, sweeping a hand through his hair. "What happened?"

"You passed out from a fever—been out all day."

"Oh…"

"I made you some food so just wait here and—"

"Sabo," he began in an attempt to catch the other's attention before he left.

The blonde looked back at him curiously. He was about to head into the kitchen to heat up his meal but stopped when he heard his name being called. "…Yeah?"

"I remember."

Sabo blinked a few times and tilted his head, wondering just what the fire user was talking about. He didn't realize he forgot something—other than his own death, of course. "…What?"

"I remember," Ace repeated as he gripped tightly to the sheets hugging his form. Teeth clenched and brow furrowed, he let out a frustrated breath. He was angry at himself. "…How could I forget about you?"

After a brief instance of comprehension, Sabo was starting to see what happened. He bit his lip; it wasn't that Ace hadn't connected him to his brother of the same name, but that he didn't know about him because he hadn't been written into the story. It seemed that even in reality his mind was still connected to the fictional world. Whatever Sabo wrote about in _One Piece_ that related to Ace, he assumed, would be transferred into the man's memories. Was that the cause of the fever—his mind adjusting to the new information?

He would have to go through a detailed explanation about how he was not the same person as the 'Sabo' in the book, but that would wait; Ace looked exhausted still and would likely not take in much information. When that conversation did occur, though, he knew it would be a difficult one. Ace was stubborn and somewhat sentimental and wouldn't believe him at first. He'd have to beat it into his head.

"…Just rest. I'll get you something to eat."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Eh?"

"…You knew I didn't remember you, right? So why didn't you say something?"

"Ace…" Sabo scratched his head. What should he say? He could tell the man wasn't fully recovered from earlier and any complex thought would fly over his head. "It's not what you think." He found himself repeating that same line from the previous night.

"What do you mean?"

"Just don't worry about it, alright? I'll explain when you're feeling better."

"Fine. I'll hold you to that."

"I know you will."

With that, the blonde exited in the room. Ace was left staring at the ceiling, alone with his thoughts. He hadn't even realized he forgot about his brother. It just never crossed his mind that his childhood was blank. Now that he recovered some of the memories, though, he was certain there were more missing. After thinking long enough he found that he couldn't remember anything from between ages ten and seventeen. The memories only resumed after he set out to become a pirate and even before that timeframe some things were hazy. What happened to mess him up so badly?

He was glad, though; he hadn't seen Sabo in three years… from what he could recall. But then he was left wondering about the current situation—his sworn brother claimed to be the creator of _One Piece_ which was supposed to be their entire world. He claimed to have designed Ace. But wasn't he a part of that world, too? Wasn't he a part of the story?

Groaning in annoyance, Ace rolled onto his side. His mind was too cloudy to be thinking about irritating things like that. He would just have to make sure the blonde told him what the hell was going on once he was feeling better.


End file.
